- Hardcover: 283 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (March 1991)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0671673246
- ISBN-13: 978-0671673246
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 626 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In this exuberant, offbeat novel, the wildly inventive Elkin ( George Mills ) unleashes a Hitchcockian MacGuffin (the narrative spirit) which takes over the ebbing life of Bobbo Druff, 58, the fairly honest but bribable street commissioner of a mid-size American city. Kafka-esque unseen enemies and their supposed spies, perhaps including Bobbo's newly acquired mistress, Meg Glorioso, may be trying to nail him for an unspecified crime linked somehow to the hit-and-run death of the Lebanese Moslem Shiite girlfriend of his son Mikey, a 30-year-old ninny. Bobbo winds up talking to the MacGuffin and eventually locks him out of his house. Elkin's imagination flags toward the end, but he has rewarded us with many comic turns, including the courtship of Bobbo and his future nagging wife under Hays Office rules: Bobbo has had to keep one foot on the floor at all times. First serial to Playboy.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Elkin here presents Commissioner of Streets Bobbo Druff, who, believing he is losing his power, orchestrates a series of useless and paranoid gestures to show that he is still top dog even though no one actually is challenging his authority. Though weird, the book was praised by LJ's reviewer for its "inspired, Joycean wordplay based on clich?s, shoptalk, and technical jargon" (LJ 2/1/91).
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended reading.,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The MacGuffin (Paperback)
Aging City Commissioner of Streets Bobbo Druff, in an effort to hang on to his persona of authority and power, constructs a "MacGuffin", a paranoid plot where everyone is out to get him. Druff starts an illicit affair, instigates fights with his employees, invents lies for his family, and does anything he can think of to create a world in which he is placed at the center of influential, self-advertising scandal. A memorable comedy figure, Druff's self-conscious madness is hilariously inventive. Author Stanley Elkin writes his novel with the lyrical intensity of poetry and creates within his character universal qualities (including self-delusions and hopeless machinations) that resonate in us all. Highly recommended.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews) 10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommended reading.,
By Midwest Book Review - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The MacGuffin (Paperback)
Aging City Commissioner of Streets Bobbo Druff, in an effort to hang on to his persona of authority and power, constructs a "MacGuffin", a paranoid plot where everyone is out to get him. Druff starts an illicit affair, instigates fights with his employees, invents lies for his family, and does anything he can think of to create a world in which he is placed at the center of influential, self-advertising scandal. A memorable comedy figure, Druff's self-conscious madness is hilariously inventive. Author Stanley Elkin writes his novel with the lyrical intensity of poetry and creates within his character universal qualities (including self-delusions and hopeless machinations) that resonate in us all. Highly recommended.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
enjoyable, comic read,
By J. Jacobs - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The MacGuffin (Paperback)
Disappointing ending, but enjoyable, comic read. 24 hours in the life of an aging, insecure, politician. Interesting dialogues between a male and his member.
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